Looks like Matt Gilroy is officially on notice as coach John Tortorella opted to go with Steve Eminger and Michael Sauer as the third defensive pair in the Rangers opener against the Buffalo Sabres tonight.

A la rangers.nhl.com: ” ‘We just felt as a coaching staff that Sauer had a better camp (than Gilroy),’ said Tortorella , who also pointed out that he preferred Eminger playing the left side as opposed to righty shots Sauer or Gilroy, cementing his spot in the lineup. ‘It’s one game and it’s certainly not a negative on Gilly’s work in camp. It’s just that we need to make a decision. It came down to Sauer or Matt, and we chose Sauer.’”

Rookie Derek Stepan made the cut as well and has started the game playing the third line with Sean Avery and Ruslan Fedotenko. He’s sporting his number 21 from his days in Wisconsin (much more pleasing to the eye than 57 which he was dealt in training camp.)

Captain Chris Drury skated with the team this morning. Maybe he’ll get the green light for the home opener at MSG on Friday?

Lines:

Frolov Christensen Gaborik

Dubinsky Anisimov Callahan

Avery Stepan Fedotenko

Boogaard Boyle Prust

Defense:

Staal Rosival

Girardi Del Zotto

Eminger Sauer

The Rangers missed the playoffs by one point last season. But that one shootout goal wasn’t what ended their playoff dreams. It was a series of losses and missed opportunities throughout the season. Expect the Blueshirts to get off to a strong start. The buck stops with Lundqvist.

Random: Why was the Canadian anthem sung before the game started in Buffalo?

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Written by Margaret DeJesus
I'm a recent college graduate looking for a dream job covering hockey. I've been watching the New York Rangers since my grade school days of VHS and Gordon Bombay's "ducks fly together" speech. While studying journalism at Boston University (COM '10), I wrote for the Daily Free Press, the student newspaper. I worked two summers at the Staten Island Advance, my hometown newspaper, writing city news and features. I've also written CD reviews for Music-Reviewer.com. One of my favorite gigs was interning for hockey analyst extraordinaire Stan Fischler covering the Boston Bruins and attending all their home games in the 2009-2010 season. (Yes, including the crushing defeat against the Flyers in the Eastern Conference playoffs.)

2 Comments

In response to “Eminger and Sauer Get the Nod in Rangers’ Season Opener”

Answer to your random thought is that most of the people who attend Buffalo games are people who can’t get tickets to Leafs’ games…lol

As for the game, it’s a nice win, great performance by Stepan, and a reason for a little bit of early optimism. However, we went 6 or 7 games without losing last year too, no?

I love the team’s direction, and I still think we need to give Gilroy a chance, but as a forward, which is where he’s played most of his career. He’s got the speed and instinct of a winger. He would have a better shot there in terms of being a regular player. Still, not bad for an undrafted pickup…

Good random answer! lol I thought it was so weird because I never heard the anthem before a non Canadian matchup before.

And yup. I feel like every year they come out with a big streak, getting everyone’s hopes up then by December they unravel.

Totally forgot Gilroy was a forward originally! When he tried for that walk on spot at BU that’s when he said he could play D to make it. I don’t know. I don’t see him as Byfuglien. At BU he looked natural at D. Besides, where would they put him? Callahan, Anisimov, Avery and Dubinsky have it on lockdown and he’s not exactly a fourth line grinder nor a second line asset. I feel like it’d be even tougher keeping a spot that way. But it would be cool to see em give him a shot there